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About PENOPLEX / Transport construction / Roadways

PENOPLEX^® insulating boards can be used:

• for creating insulating layers in order to decrease the effect of frost heaving of structures, which have soils prone to heaving within the frost line;
• as an alternative for high roadbeds or peat insulation in permafrost regions, that preserve permafrost soils from thawing in the body of the base course.

For the purposes of road construction, PENOPLEX^® boards are manufactured 2400 mm long with a "quarter" joint-slot along the perimeter.

Using PENOPLEX^® boards in the conditions of excessive groundwater sources lowers the effect of frost heaving and offers the following benefits:

• lowering the volume of high-quality materials used for insulting road structures and increasing their resistance to freezing;
• possibility of using the upper layer of roadbed consisting local soil prone to heaving without the need to replace it;
• increased service life as a results of the absence of deformation caused by frost heaving;
• lower working levels of roadbeds in the areas where traditional construction methods are limited by the SNiP code in the minimum roadbed elevation over the level of groundwater or surface water, as well as the ground level;
• lower projected humidity of roadway soil and the respectively higher projected strength properties of soil, due to lower water accumulation during frost heaving;
• lower minimum thickness of the drainage layer, due to the absence of water sources;
• lower road maintenance costs.

On January 12001, the Ministry of Transportation of the Russian Federation approved and recommended for use (Directive #00-35, issued December 20, 2000) the Methodological Considerations for the Design and Construction of Insulating Layers of Roadways from PENOPLEX^® Foamed Polystyrene Boards Developed by FGUP SoyuzDorNII Institute of Research and Development. The Considerations offer two methods for calculating the necessary thickness of insulating layers: one method is using thermal resistance or the roadway, and the other method is based on using water conductance of soil. The methods became part of ODN 218.046-01, Design of Non-Rigid Roadways that was published to replace VSN 46-83.

The effectiveness of using PENOPLEX^® boards in permafrost regions is due to:

• decreased volume of imported soils when constructing roadways;
• ability of using soils of any humidity as frozen water materials for roadways;
• lowering of working points for roadbeds constructed in permafrost regions, decreased amount of earth digging work, and shorter construction time;
• increased reliability and service life of roads;
• lower ecological impact when constructing roads in northern regions.

For determining the necessary thickness of insulating layers in permafrost regions, FGUP SoyuzDorNII National Institute of Research and Development have developed Recommendations for Calculating and Construction of Insulating Layers from PENOPLEX^® Foamed Polystyrene Boards for the Soils in Permafrost Regions.

FGUP SoyuzDorNII has designed that Technology Map for the construction of PENOPLEX^® boards insulating layers for roadways.

The construction technology is as follows:

• planning and compacting roadways in accordance with local codes and regulations;
• creating and compacting a leveling layer from sand with a thickness of 5–10 cm;
• laying PENOPLEX^® boards manually in accordance with laying diagrams;
• securing the outer rows of the boards with metal rods with a diameter of 6–8 mm and length 400 mm;
• placing the base course on top of PENOPLEX^® boards away from the already constructed segment;
• distributing sand with a bulldozer or grader;
• compacting with vibrating road rollers.

After compacting, road construction vehicles may move along the layer.

The St. Petersburg Regions Center for Price Forming in Construction developed and on January 1, 2002 introduced the Territorial Elementary Estimates and Unified Tariffs for Road Construction Using the PENOPLEX Insulant as an appendix to the TER-2001-27SPb Automobile Roads catalog.

Because PENOPLEX^® is a lightweight and easy to work with, a crew of three workers can install one layer of over 2500 sqm of boards or two layers of over 1300 sq m of the insulant in one shift.

PENOPLEX^® boards have been used to ensure frost protection during construction and renovation of general purpose roads since 1999:

M-2 Krym on the Serpukhov-Tula section. Construction took place in 2000 by US-1 Interdorstry Ltd. and SU-920 of the Tula branch of Khanty-Mansijskdorstroy.

Dense asphalt concrete, type A, Mk I – 6 cm Dense asphalt concrete, type B, Mk I – 6 cm Porous asphalt concrete, Mk II – 11 cm Cement-stabilized gravel and sand mix – 24 cm Crushed rock laid using pouring method –15 cm Sand – 35 cm PENOPLEX® 45 – 8 cm

Road connecting the Moscow-Kiev highway and Kaluga-Tula highway (Kaluga Region). Construction was carried out in 2001 by construction branches of Transstroy Ltd.

Surfaced with black crushed rock Dense asphalt concrete, type B, Mk I – 5 cm Porous asphalt concrete, Mk I – 7 cm Fine-grade porous asphalt concrete – 8 cm Crushed rock – 35 cm Fine-grade sand – 40 cm PENOPLEX®– 4 cm Fine-grade sand – 20 cm

M-4 Don near Kashira, Moscow Region. Test section was constructed using PENOPLEX^® boards in 2000 by SU-805 Tsentrdorstroy.

Dense asphalt concrete, type A, Mk I – 6 cm Dense asphalt concrete, type B, Mk I – 6 cm Porous asphalt concrete, Mk I – 10 cm Cement-stabilized gravel and sand mix – 25 cm Pressed M-400 crushed rock – 10 cm Sand – 2 cm PENOPLEX® 45 – 8 cm Sand (leveling layer) – 10 cm

Amur (Chita-Khabarovsk) in the Amur Region. Placing a layer of insulation by PMK-113. In 2001, a construction brach of SNP Nova constructed a section of the Korotchaevo-Purovsk highway on permafrost soils.

Dense fine-grade asphalt concrete – 8 cm Dense rough-grade asphalt concrete – 12 cm PDN 6.0×2.0×0.14 m slabs of reinforced concrete – 14 cm Cement and sand mix – 5 cm Crushed rock – 15 cm Sand – 22 cm PENOPLEX® 45– 12 cm Sand – 5 cm